The Hill’s 12:30 Report — GOP pushes debt fight toward 2024

by Elizabeth Crisp - 04/21/23 12:30 PM ET

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

TALK OF THE MORNING

Republicans could be lining up next debt limit fight just before 2024 election:

House Republicans could be setting up another fight over the debt limit — this time, just months before the 2024 presidential election.

A sweeping proposal GOP leaders unveiled this week would raise the debt ceiling through the end of next March or by $1.5 trillion, whichever happens first.

Democrats, so far, are balking at the idea.

“Amazingly, one of the few specifics [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy (R-Calif.) has presented is his terrible idea to kick the can down the road for just one year and undergo the same crisis again,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this week. “Why would anyone want to undergo this crisis again, again and again?”

McCarthy brushed off questions about the timeline earlier this week.

“I think the most important thing here is I would like to do this together and solve this problem, but they don’t want it, so we’re going to send a bill over to the Senate,” McCarthy told The Hill.

More from The Hill here.

RELATED:

The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom, Aris Folley and Sylvan Lane have broken down the key provisions in the GOP proposal.

It’s Friday, April 21. I’m Elizabeth Crisp, filling in for Cate, with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. Send me your tips, add me to your media lists and share your funny animal videos ecrisp@digital-stage.thehill.com and follow me on Twitter @elizabethcrisp.

In Congress

Chief Justice Roberts, you’re being summoned:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wants Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before Congress about the Supreme Court’s ethical standards after recent bombshell reports of lavish gifts a GOP megadonor gave to Justice Clarence Thomas. But Republicans accuse the Democratic chairman of trying to ensnare court in a media “circus.”

The ProPublica report found conservative Thomas had not disclosed the gifts he received from a Texas billionaire.

But the GOP lawmakers noted how rare it is to call on a sitting chief justice to testify before Congress.

“I would not recommend that the chief accept his invitation because it will be a circus,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.

Durbin wrote in his letter to Roberts that over the past decade, “there has been a steady stream of revelation regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally.” (The Hill)

RELATED:

Any minute now, the Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on a challenge to the legality of the abortion pill mifepristone less than a year after the conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and leaving the issue for states to decide.

🌎 In the White House

Biden plans executive order to promote environmental justice:

President Biden is creating a new office in the White House that will be focused on environmental justice efforts.

The Office of Environmental Justice will work within the White House Council on Environmental Quality and will be tasked with coordinating implementation of environmental justice policies.

Biden’s executive order will also direct agencies to look at gaps in science and data “to better understand and prevent the cumulative impacts of pollution on people’s health,” a White House official told reporters in a preview.

Additionally, it will require agencies “to notify nearby communities in the event of a release of toxic substances from a federal facility,” the official said. (The Hill)

American killed in Sudan amid heavy fighting, US weighs embassy evacuation:

An American has died in Sudan amid escalating violence in the country, and the U.S. military is preparing for a possible evacuation of the embassy in Khartoum.

Two rival generals are fighting for leadership of the country. A ceasefire for the Muslim holiday of Eid, Friday night, has mostly been ignored.

The State Department has not provided details about the American who was killed or the circumstances.

The Pentagon is “moving forward to pre-position some military forces and capabilities nearby just for contingency purposes in case they would be needed for any kind of evacuation,” White House spokesman John Kirby said. (The Hill)

🏃 2024

California will host second GOP debate for 2024:

The second GOP presidential primary debate will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., this fall.

“I am honored to be able to make one really important announcement here today. The second presidential primary debate will take place here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said. “The next election is so important.”

McDaniel announced last week that the first GOP primary debate will be hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee in August. The RNC will return to Milwaukee again next year for the party’s nominating convention.

📈 In other news

Americans bought a lot of guns amid the pandemic:

A fifth of U.S. households purchased guns during the pandemic, a trend that has exposed more than 15 million peoples to firearms in the home for the first time, academic studies have found.

The Hill’s Daniel de Visé reports: Americans purchased nearly 60 million guns between 2020 and 2022, according to an analysis by The Trace, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that tracks gun violence. Yearly gun sales are running at roughly twice the level of 15 or 20 years ago.

“It’s a totally different type of gun ownership now,” John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC, a research organization based at the University of Chicago.

“It’s not a rifle stored away somewhere that you take out twice a year to go hunting. It’s a handgun, probably a semiautomatic handgun, that you keep in your bedside table or in your glove compartment, or that you maybe carry around with you.”

⏱ On tap

The House and Senate are done for the week. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in D.C. but will be traveling to Camp David and Miami, respectively, today.

9 a.m.: The House Ways and Means Committee held a field hearing in Peachtree City, Ga., on the U.S. economy.
9:30 a.m.: President Biden received the President’s Daily Briefing.
10:15 a.m.: Vice President Harris left for Miami, where she will deliver a speech on climate change.
1 p.m.: Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters.
2:15 p.m.: Biden delivers remarks on “building healthy communities and announces new actions to advance environmental justice.”
4:10 p.m.: Biden departs the White House en route to Camp David.